Chapter 577: Testing the Appliance

This time the train returning to the capital is still a Youth Special Train.

Snow swirled heavily, and each passenger entering the station had a layer of white on their heads and shoulders.

Lu Cheng, wearing a coat, kept directing order, but only when a flash of red appeared in the crowd did he briefly pause to glance.

When he realized it wasn't Lin Qingyan, he refocused and continued directing order.

At ten p. m., the train blew its whistle, and the expelled steam merged with the snowflakes.

After returning to the Capital City, the exhausted Lu Cheng didn't go home first; he turned to the hospital to visit Lei Zhan'ge.

"Captain Lei, you look in good spirits today."

Seeing Lu Cheng come in, Lei Zhan'ge instantly perked up.

"Lying here every day, not having to do anything; all we do is eat and sleep…"

Lu Cheng sat beside him, smiled and said, "Isn't that great? You should have listened to the doctor earlier and rested properly."

Lei Zhan'ge waved his hand, "Although my body is resting now, my mind can't rest. Every day I look forward to you coming, to talk about work; no one else is willing to speak with me about it."

Lu Cheng understood that the department leadership must have arranged it, so that Lei Zhan'ge could rest properly, and no one was allowed to come and report work.

"Then Captain Lei, if others don't dare to discuss work with you, I certainly won't either; you should keep resting. Director Tang is in the team, no need to worry…"

Before Lu Cheng could finish, Lei Zhan'ge immediately pulled his face down.

"If you also don't talk to me, then don't come back. Right now, get lost!"

Lu Cheng felt helpless; the old man still had that fiery temper.

"Alright, I'll talk to you, but you must promise not to take it to heart, and not to voice opinions; consider it me keeping you company and lightening your mood."

Seeing Lei Zhan'ge reluctantly about to speak, Lu Cheng immediately stood up, "If you don't agree, I'll leave right now."

Since it's hard to find someone willing to discuss work, Lei Zhan'ge couldn't bear to let Lu Cheng go, so he agreed, thinking listening was fine.

"Then start by talking about the Youth matters."

Lu Cheng then sat down again, "I thought you'd ask about the internal combustion engine first."

Lei Zhan'ge, lying on the hospital bed, laughed, "I certainly want to ask about the internal combustion engine; it's not just Youth matters that our team should prioritize. Anyway, if you don't finish reporting today, you can't leave."

Lu Cheng was both amused and exasperated, seeing that Lei Zhan'ge was truly anxious in the hospital—unable to work and with no one daring to report to him.

"The Youth Special Train has few issues; currently, Knowledgeable Youth across regions are returning to the city in an orderly way. The duration may still require one or two years."

Lei Zhan'ge nodded, "Hmm, remember not to clash with these Knowledgeable Youth. As the Transportation Department, you must properly arrange their return work, and also…"

"Captain Lei, look, you just promised not to voice opinions, just listen, no work directives."

Lei Zhan'ge waved his hand and laughed, his smile full of helplessness.

"Fine, no directives; I also trust you can do the job well."

Fearing to disturb Captain Lei's rest, Lu Cheng gave a brief work report.

When they finally discussed the internal combustion engine, they learned all tasks were progressing orderly, and Lei Zhan'ge showed a satisfied smile.

"Captain Lei, you must take good care of your health, and then we'll ride the accelerated train."

Lei Zhan'ge merely nodded; he knows his own condition better than anyone, uncertain if he can hold out until that day.

……

During the two days back in the Capital City, he inquired at the bureau and learned that Jiang Yuanchao's side would need another week to bring the computer equipment back.

But Ding Yuanmin acted swiftly and quickly retrieved what he wanted.

When bringing it back to the ward, a curious neighbor asked, first of all the front‑yard Wang Dama.

"Hey Lu San'er, what are you carrying?"

Lu Cheng replied casually, "An electric heating blanket, for nighttime warming."

"Electric heating blanket? I've heard of that thing; I heard it needs to be plugged in, right?"

Lu Cheng stopped, "Whoa, Wang Dama, you know quite a bit, even heard that an electric heating blanket needs to be plugged in."

"Hey, I certainly have heard, and I know this thing wastes electricity; you just buy these rare gadgets, wasting power—see if your mom won't beat you."

It really does consume a lot of power; just now I checked the wattage, close to a hundred watts.

Of course, in later times, refrigerators, air conditioners, TVs of one or two kilowatts are everywhere; a hundred‑watt appliance is extremely energy‑saving.

But don't forget, this is still the 1970s.

The nation's installed generation capacity is low, only about 20 to 40 million kilowatts, mainly thermal power, with hydro heavily seasonal.

And this electricity must first guarantee the Third Line Construction and heavy industry production, so the portion allocated to civilian life is very limited.

Since power now mainly relies on coal, but railway transport capacity is insufficient, many power plants are waiting for coal to burn; this is why Lu Cheng insists on rapidly developing internal combustion engines.

Also, the grid is not well‑connected, with poor peak‑shaving ability; for a city, monthly civilian electricity consumption has a total quota.

If residents in a district heavily use appliances over 100 watts, exceeding the transformer's rated capacity, it could burn out the public insurance.

Every watt of electricity is hard‑won; in rural areas, load‑shedding is common, which is why many post‑70s and post‑80s youngsters often experienced power outages at home.

Nowadays household appliances are just a few‑watt radios and ten‑something‑watt bulbs; with electricity priced at 0.2 yuan per kilowatt‑hour, each family spends about one yuan per month.

So when Lu Cheng said it was an electric heating blanket, Wang Dama was that surprised.

A hundred‑watt appliance is already rare; if run seven or eight hours daily, the monthly bill could jump to four or five yuan.

Thus Lu Cheng didn't dare tell his mom, lest he get scolded.

So he took advantage of his mom not noticing, crouched, and hurried into the West Wing Room, putting the items inside first.

Besides the electric heating blanket, there was also a 1,200‑watt imported induction cooker.

So he didn't dare tell his mom; after closing the door, Lu Cheng prepared to test it, first spreading the electric heating blanket on the bed so he could sleep in a warm duvet at night.

That night after cooking, Lu Cheng ate quickly and prepared to return to the room to test the induction cooker.

After the long trek, he wasn't sure if it was damaged; modern appliances are delicate.

Seeing her son eat so fast today, whereas he usually dabbles, Chen Xianglan was a bit puzzled.

"San'er, have you finished eating?"

Lu Cheng stood up: "Ah, I'm done eating, Mom, I'm going back to my room to sleep."

"Sleeping so early? Aren't you going to watch TV? They said there's a movie today, Five Golden Flowers, which you can usually only see in a cinema."

Lu Cheng, uninterested in TV, said: "It's too cold, Mom, I want to sleep, you watch."

Chen Xianglan shook her head. There was clearly a TV set in the courtyard, a rare sight these days, and people from the nearby Hu Tong Li liked to come over to watch, yet her son was not interested at all.

If he doesn't want to watch, Chen Xianglan would go watch herself; she immediately didn't even have time to wash the bowl and claimed a good spot early.

Perhaps everyone knew in advance that there would be a movie today, so more people came to the courtyard than usual, crowding the Inner Courtyard to the point of being jam‑packed.

When they finally got to the point of the movie being shown, everyone was on tiptoes, craning their heads…

Meanwhile, in the West Wing Room, Lu Cheng had just placed the Induction Cooker at the socket's position, holding the plug, about to insert it into the socket.